by USA TODAY

by USA TODAY

LONDON (AP) - The Church of England's governing body has narrowly blocked a move to permit women to serve as bishops.

Following a day-long debate on Tuesday, opponents mustered enough support to deny the necessary two-thirds majority among lay members of the General Synod.

Church officials say it may take five years to go through the process of taking new legislation to a final vote.

The defeat was a setback for Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who retires at the end of December, and his successor, Bishop Justin Welby. Both had strongly endorsed a proposed compromise that they had hoped would end decades of debate.

Passage of legislation to allow women to serve as bishops must be approved by two-thirds majorities in the synod's three houses: bishops, priests and laity. Synod members were voting on the latest compromise which calls for church leaders to "respect" the position of parishes that oppose female bishops - without saying exactly what "respect" means.

The vote was 132 in favor and 74 against. In separate votes, bishops voted 44-3 in favor with 2 abstentions, and clergy voted 148-45 in favor.

The push to muster a two-thirds majority among lay members of the General Synod was expected to be close, with many on both sides unsatisfied with a compromise proposal to accommodate individual parishes that spurn female bishops.

In a sermon at a communion service before the debate, Williams quoted Cardinal John Henry Newman's motto, "heart speaks to heart."

"That is what we are praying and we are saying for our day, not, please God, just an exchange of ideas, not just for a rival taking of positions, but somehow that, from the center of myself and center of yourself, something will emerge that is Christ-like in character," said Williams.

He was supported by Bishop Welby, who becomes archbishop of Canterbury next year and promised to "faithfully" carry out concessions to opponents.

"We cannot get trapped into believing this is a zero-sum decision where one person's gain must be another's loss. That is not a theology of grace," Welby said.

"It is time to finish the job and vote for this measure but also the Church of England needs to show how we can develop the mission of the Church in a way that demonstrates that we can manage diversity of view without division.

Synod members were voting on the latest compromise which calls for church leaders to "respect" the position of parishes that oppose female bishops - without saying exactly what "respect" means.

The nod to conservative forces had drawn some supporters of women bishops into an unlikely alliance with opponents, throwing the result of the vote into doubt.

Supporters of the middle way said that the conscience of opponents needed to be taken into account.

"The trouble is our disagreement is absolute: either a woman can be a bishop, or she cannot," said Rev. Janet Appleby, a parish priest who drafted the compromise. But she added that "respect ... ensures that parishes that are unable in conscience to accept women priests and bishops will be able to receive appropriate ministerial and episcopal oversight."

Canon Simon Killwick from Manchester, opposing the compromise, argued that it was "possible to be in favor of women bishops in principle, but to believe that this was the wrong legislation for introducing women bishops."

The first critical vote is on whether to adopt the legislation as English law. A second vote would follow on whether to incorporate the change in church law.

Votes among bishops and clergy in the synod were expected to pass easily, especially since Williams and Welby both strongly supported the change, but the measure faced strong opposition among sectors of the laity.

It has been 36 years since the General Synod declared it had no fundamental objection to ordaining women as priests, and 18 years since the first women were ordained. But that change never won universal acceptance in the church, with a determined minority rejecting women's ministry as contrary to the Bible.

That group has demanded special arrangements to shield it from supervision by female bishops.

If the change is endorsed by the General Synod, there will be a further wrangle over a code of practice which would spell out what respect means in practical terms.

Sister churches of the Anglican Communion in Australia, New Zealand and the United States already have women serving as bishops.

Southern Africa joined that group on Sunday with the consecration of Ellinah Wamukoya as the Anglican bishop of Swaziland.

"I am going to try to represent the mother attribute of God," Wamukoya said Monday. "A mother is a caring person but at the same time, a mother can be firm in doing whatever she is doing."

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All
rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.